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The Source of All Evil
The Source of All Evil is the title that identifies the most powerful demon and ruler of the Underworld. Background It appears that the Source itself is not any specific demon, but actually a very ancient ethereal entity of supreme supernatural evil and magical power. Its M.O. over the ages has been to move into the body of each demon that held the position of the Source, gradually absorbing/integrating the powers, personality, and memories of each said demon into itself. Therefore, each demon that defeated other demons to hold the position of the Source, including defeating a previous Source, would over a long enough period of time literally become the same Source possessing the new host and its body with even more powers. It does not appear that this was generally known to most demons. Each time the Source moves into a new host a ceremony must take place granting them unrestricted access to the full powers of The Source, while at the same time crowning them as putative ruler of demonkind. The coronation must be conducted by a dark priest and requires that The Source be touching the ancient and powerful demonic Grimoire, evil's equivalent to the Book of Shadows. The first and most noted Source host introduced in the series had a tattooed face that, as finally revealed on screen late into his time, was partially mutilated from battles with other demons which brought him to power. Among his many demonic powers: throwing fireballs,energy balls, teleportation (with flames), manipulating flame, shape-shifting, summoning demons and evil beings, mind control, and possession. He sent numerous demons after the Halliwell sisters. His greatest victory came when Prue was killed by his assassin Shax. History The show’s first season saw two warlocks, under the aliases Rex Buckland and Hannah Webster, stalking and attempting to murder the three Charmed Ones. In the episode The Witch Is Back, Buckland mentions having failed a mysterious “He”, after the 17th century warlock Matthew Tate, was unsuccessful in killing the sisters. The two agree that by outing the Halliwells as descendants of Melinda Warren (and thus, as the Charmed Ones) that it wasn't a complete failure, a feat which would buy them time to vanquish the sisters themselves. Following this, Buckland and Webster expose themselves as warlocks to the Charmed Ones, when they attempt to steal their powers, but fail in killing them. This leads to Webster being seen spontaneously combusting, screaming out in pain “wait, it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t fail”, whilst being vanquished by an off-screen and unknown force. It is likely, that these two warlocks were hired by the Source to kill the Charmed Ones, the mysterious “He” who vanquished them when they failed in their mission. Even before their deaths, in the episode “The Wedding from Hell”, one can note that the two warlocks were invited to the wedding of Hecate, the so-called “Queen of the Underworld”, thus illustrating the fact that they were remotely connected with the royal hierarchy of the Underworld. In Give Me a Sign, Litvack refers to the Source as his boss. After the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse failed to end the world, the Source vanquished them (though he was not actually shown on screen, as in "Wicca Envy", we do know that it was him because it was mentioned throughout the episode that only the Source could kill them and also at the end that it was the Source who was keeping the vortex open and killing them.) The Source is talked about all through the season mainly by demons who he sends to kill the Charmed Ones. The first time he is seen, is during the third season finale, after his assassin Shax tried to kill a good doctor the Source wanted dead. In the end, he kills the Charmed One Prue Halliwell, destroying the original Power of Three. The Source renewed his war against the Charmed Ones after they were reconstituted despite his best efforts to preempt this by swaying Paige Matthews to his side. He made several attempts on the Charmed Ones' lives and their powers, including putting Piper into a coma in order to force her to give up her powers, and taking in the Hollow, an ancient formless being which has the power to absorb all magic, and, if not contained, destroy the entire world. He was successful in stealing their powers, but Cole Turner took in The Hollow, and stole the Source's power when he threw a fireball at him. The Charmed Ones then vanquished the Source the only way possible: calling all of the magic from their entire family line. However, after his death, his powers and his spirit were absorbed by Cole (who was mortal at the time), and he possessed Cole, who eventually became the new Source. Cole attained the full powers of the Source in a ceremony that involved the evil Grimoire, the dark counterpart to the Book of Shadows. The possessed Cole was killed by the Charmed Ones shortly after his official reign began. After Cole's first physical death, his widow, Phoebe, was carrying their child, whose darker half was intensified by a "tonic" potion created by The Seer and given to Phoebe (who was prevented from having the child be a powerful being of good that was of her and of Cole, via her unknowingly being bound in her "dark" wedding ceremony to the Source) grew powerful enough that he could control his mother from the womb. The unborn child was stolen by The Seer in her bid to become the new Source, but in the end both were vanquished for good. Four years later, an unnamed possessor demon invaded the body of a woman named Mandi, in order to manipulate Piper and Leo's son Wyatt. She then used Wyatt's incredible powers to bring the previous half-faced Source back from the dead (which would possibly be right out of the belly of the serpent-like beast of the Demonic Wasteland, but this was killed in Series 5 so there would have to be more than one.). This also again makes the point that Cole Turner wasn't the Source in and of himself, but was possessed by the Source (or Cole would have returned instead of the half-faced Source, when Wyatt's powers were used to bring back the Source). However, Leo, along with the Charmed Ones' protege Billie Jenkins, trapped in Magic School with no way to get home, realized the school has been taken over by evil, and discovered the demon's plan. Shortly after, they found a spell to return Billie, who warned the Charmed Ones, who in return went to Magic School to rescue Leo. Meanwhile, Leo stayed in the school to watch over Wyatt. Although he was disguised from the world, the Source sensed that he was in fact the Charmed Ones' former whitelighter. The Charmed Ones arrived just in time, and Piper vanquished the unnamed demon, and with it the resurrected Source, as their magic was interconnected. Spells To call upon our Ancestors * Used to vanquish the Source :Prudence, Penelope :Patricia, Melinda... :Astrid, Helena :Laura and Grace :Halliwell Witches :Stand strong beside us :Vanquish this evil :from time and space The Original Half-faced Source The first host of the supreme entity of supernatural evil known as The Source encountered by The Charmed Ones. This Source had been in power for thousands of years, disfiguring his face in his battle to host the ancient entity. Higher-level demons were able to communicate with The Source through swirling balls of supernatural fire, and all demons were able to sense his glory, as a reminder of his power. In turn The Source was able to sense and summon all of his subjects, especially if they focused their concentration on locating him, but few demons ever met this Source, and even fewer saw his disfigured face. The Source had the powers of pyrokinesis, telekinesis, adjusting, reconstitution, flaming and possession; was able to phase, appearing as a non-corporeal entity; cast flameballs and force blasts; could move at extremely fast speeds; generate electrical fields; and even shapeshift. The Source was also telepathic, able to read ‘souls’; project and hear thoughts, even across dimensions; create mental illusions; and cloud minds, subtly influencing them. On the rare occasion that he was injured The Source gushed black blood, while his very presence was enough to momentarily disrupt electrical systems and lights. Notes * He was responsible for incarcerating the powerful demon Zankou and the Tall Man. Because of this, some speculate that the damage to his face in his battles for power may have been at the hands of Zankou. * He is also responsible for banishing numerous beings from the underworld, such as: vampires, wizards, Kurzon, and even possibly Hecate. * On Charmed, when Hecate appeared, it was said that she was the Queen of the Underworld - meaning that it is possible that she was with the Source during that time. After the Charmed Ones defeated her, she fled back to the Underworld, and never appeared later on in the series. Possibly, this was because The Source vanquished her or banished her, but there could be other reasons. It is also possible that she simply considered herself Queen of the Underworld, and was in some sort of power struggle with the Source. However, this is most likely simply one of the many errors of the writers -- the Source at the point was considerably more powerful and experienced than the Charmed Ones, and thus the Source would have no problem defeating her, and probably would not respect someone as weak as her, not to mention the fact that there is virtually no mention of the Source or the Underworld until season two. * When the Source appeared for the first time in season 3, he was dressed in a red robe with a red hood covering his face. He had large wings attached to his back, and was holding a sword. In season 4, he was only dressed in a black robe with a black hood covering his face. He was also considerably less stout (as he was no longer played by Michael Bailey Smith). * The color of the Source's hands hands changed three times. From black to red, and from red to white. * His face remained covered until one of the guardians (the evil one) of The Hollow zapped him with a lightning strike. The Source then rose with his face finally showing, keeping the hood off since. * Only upper level demons and the Charmed Ones have seen his face. * The Source once shapeshifted the Seer so as to disguise her from the Charmed Ones. * Actor Peter Woodward, who portrayed the half faced Source, also appears as the demon Aku in the season seven episodes "Someone To Witch Over Me" and "Ordinary Witches". Cole Turner as the Source When the original Source was vanquished, his evil and power had already been absorbed by The Hollow and were able to survive to be reborn within Cole Turner. With his demon half vanquished, a void was left within him until the entity of The Source filled it. After being absorbed into Cole by the power of The Hollow the weakened spirit of The Source only had subconscious control of it’s new body, but quickly gained both strength and power to completely subdue Cole’s personality, taking over his body near-absolutely. This first manifested itself when Phoebe asked Cole if there was something he wasn't telling her (at the end of "The Three Faces of Phoebe") but after some hesitation he replied no, in spite of the fact that he'd clearly been hiding something all day. Though it wore Cole's mortal body The Source was recognisable by the flaming black eyes it would sometimes display to demons to gain their obedience. From there, he would hatch a plan involving setting up events for Phoebe Halliwell to marry him in a dark wedding ceremony and conceive a demonic heir, then for him to take over the Underworld and kill the Charmed Ones (either in the process or afterwards). However, there was one piece of of Cole's humanity the Source was unable to overcome: the former Belthazor's now intrinsic love for Phoebe. This forced the Source to integrate that love into its being and work it into its plans. The results of this included helping to save Paige (who he intensely disliked at the time and vice versa) from the Vampire Queen who was coming after his throne, getting the power broker demon to remove the bad powers that were driving Paige insane (in spite of the fact that he was actually enjoying taking advantage of this to torture her), and, as Cole became strong enough through said love for Phoebe to force the Source to work with him, even a nearly successful transfer of the Source from Cole Turner to a crafty wizard. Ironically, it would be this same love returned by Phoebe which would cause her (along with the couple's demonic spawn inside her) to interrupt the transfer by destroying the wizard, forcing Cole and Phoebe to embrace evil together as the new Source and his Queen. Again ironically, as Phoebe could not fully immerse herself in the role due to hormonal fits and a just-as-intrinsic desire to be with her family and to be good, this ended up as Source Cole's downfall. As other Sources had before him this Source possessed a great array of powers; fireballs; flaming; molecular control; telekinesis; shapeshifting; invulnerability, with almost no magical power able to permanently harm him; and telepathy capable of both reading and manipulating minds; but by far his most important ability was his shielding against the power of premonition. While his evil side held strong Phoebe’s power was completely useless on him, guaranteeing his true nature remained a secret from The Charmed Ones until his coronation granted him access to his full powers as The Source. This made it very useful that he was strong enough for a time to near-completely suppress the humanity within him. The Source’s greatest ally was the Seer, though she closely guarded her true agendas. As the new power in the Underworld, this Source brought about an unprecedented alliance between different demonic races while also finally eradicating the entire clan of Vampires that was after his throne. Heir Cole's widow, Phoebe, was carrying the child of The Source, who was transformed into a being of pure evil thanks to a tonic fed to his mother by the Seer. The child was now able to control his mother from the womb. The unborn child was stolen by The Seer, who placed it in her own womb, thus gaining the power of the Source's heir, in her bid to become the new Source, but in the end both were vanquished for good by the Charmed Ones when they forced the Seer to tap into the child's full power in her attempt to vanquish them. This power was too great for her to contain and the Source-child self-destructed taking the Seer and the Infernal Council with him. References Category:Characters Category:Demons Category:Evils Vanquished Category:Magical beings Category:Upper-Level Demons